Gould, the Bears' all-time leader in field goals, was in the stadium for Chicago's playoff loss to the Eagles

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San Francisco 49ers’ Robbie Gould (9) celebrates following their 25-23 win against the Tennessee Titans for their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

If you could have accessed the thought balloons above the 62,462 Bears fans at Soldier Field on Sunday as kicker Cody Parkey double-doinked the potential game-winning field goal, here’s guessing the No. 1 (printable) sentiment would have been: “I wish Robbie Gould was here.”

Bite the bullet, Bears fans, this is going to hurt: Gould (pronounced “Gold”) was there.

Not in an official capacity. The kicker who stands as the Bears’ place-kicking Gould standard was in a suite at Soldier Field on Sunday. Gould spent 11 years and 166 games for Da Bearse. Despite setting team records for field goals, field goals longer than 50 yards and field goal percentage, Gould was thanked and excused after the 2015 season.

He took his sacking constructively. He kicked in 10 games for the Giants in 2016, converting all 10 field goal attempts (four beyond 50 yards). The 49ers came calling after the ’16 campaign. Gould answered the call. As a 49er, Gould has converted 72 of 75 field goals.

The Bears? Glad you asked. Connor Barth connected on 78.3 percent of his field goal attempts in 2016. Chicago employed three kickers in 2017. Parkey came aboard this season and quickly developed an odd habit of clanging his kicks off the uprights. It had happened five times before Sunday — when he was called on with 10 seconds to play to kick a 43-yard game-winner in a first-round playoff game against the Eagles. He kicked it plenty far, but… sorry Bears fans, this is going to sting as well, even when you learn that Parkey’s kick may have been tipped at the line of scrimmage:

Gould’s two-year contract with the 49ers has expired. Sorry Bears fans, one more indignity: It sure doesn’t sound as if he’ll be coming back to the shores of Lake Michigan anytime soon.

Just last week Gould told BANG’s bang-up 49ers beat reporter Cam Inman that the South Bay has “been a great place for my family, and a great place for my career. This might have been the best two-year stretch I’ve had in my entire career, one of the best in the history of the game.

“It just kind of worked since I’ve been here. It’s been pretty easy. The organization checks a lot of boxes for me, from community relations to having a lot of respect for the organization, the history, the ownership group. They’re committed to winning. For me and my family and things we’ve gone through, they’ve been there for us.”

Gary Peterson is a sports writer for the Bay Area News Group. His prior assignments included 31 years as a sports columnist, serving as a general assignment news reporter, covering courts and writing a metro column before finding his way back to sports.